HURON For the second time in the past four years, Hitchcock-Tulare will end the season at the Class B State Volleyball Tournament.
The Lady Patriots put together a 31-2 record this season to secure the third seed for the season-ending event, which begins Thursday at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls.
It is an exciting time for the community and school. Last season, when this team lost in the SoDak 16 to Faulkton, their goal was to make the State Tournament, Hitchcock-Tulare coach Jordan Opp said. The girls took it upon themselves to get better in the offseason by playing club volleyball in the spring and going to camps and open gyms in the summer. All the credit needs to go to them, as they have been very focused all year long at the task at hand.
The Lady Patriots will open the tournament against sixth-seeded Gayville-Volin, which is 29-4, at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.
Chester Area is the top seed with a 29-2 record and will face No. 8 Castlewood to open the tournament at 11 a.m. Fourth-seeded Kadoka Area (31-3) will face No. 5 Burke (33-3) at 12:45 p.m., and second-seeded Warner (31-4) will face No. 7 Colman-Egan (24-5) at 5 p.m.
Chester Area is the defending Class B champion.
The most recent state tournament for Hitchcock-Tulare came in 2020. It was the first time at the tourney since the two schools combined.
Even though we were at the state tournament in 2020, it was the Covid season, so the players and school really did not get the full state tournament experience, Opp said.
The Lady Patriots rattled off 23 straight wins to open the season. The stint including winning their bracket at the Pentagon Tournament in Sioux Falls and a 281 Conference Tournament championship.
The first of two losses this season for the Lady Patriots wasnt until Oct. 8, when they were edged 3-2 by second-seeded Warner.
The second came two days later, when Hitchcock-Tulare visited Miller, which is the top-seeded team in the Class A State Tournament.
The Lady Patriots would close the regular season with five straight wins and earn their first 281 Conference regular season title since 2018.
We have been priding ourselves on passing in system. We know that when we do that, we have several dynamic hitters that can hit a variety of shots from different spots, Opp said as the key to success this season. We also have an aggressive serve that we use to get teams out of system. Our front line has also been blocking well all season.
We also play with a lot more confidence and poise than last season, he said.
Senior Katelyn Schroeder has led Hitchcock-Tulare this season with 425 kills on 806 attacks. Junior Rebecca Huizenga recorded 154 kills, while senior Ella Johnson had 132 kills.
Sophomore Lila Jo Johnson recorded 76 of the 314 ace serves this season for the Lady Patriots, while Ella Johnson had 70 aces and senior Isabel Gilbert had 60 aces.
Lila Jo Johnson and junior Grayson Bixler have 310 and 299 assist, respectively.
Defensively, junior Cambree Hoekman has a team-high 352 digs this season for Hitchcock-Tulare, while Schroeder has 345 digs. Gilbert has 71 total blocks, while junior Cora Hofer and Huizenga each have tallied 47 blocks.
Katelyn and Cambree Hoekman have been playing well in the back row with passing the ball on target and making some great plays on defense, Opp said. Lila Johnson and Gracyn Bixler have done a great job of getting the ball to our hitters (Lila also hits on the right side when she is in the front row).
Cora Hofer, Rebecca Huizenga, Isabel Gilbert and Ella Johnson all make plays when they need to, he said. Their numbers are not big, but they have all come up with big plays throughout the year.
If the Lady Patriots want earn a ninth-straight win, Opp knos his team will need to come ready to play against its opening-round opponent.
We are very excited to be the third seed and have the bracket that we have. We are going to have to come ready to play as Gayville-Volin has a great team, Opp said. They have four good hitters that we will have to control and slow down. I am hoping our block up front will cause them some trouble.
I was very impressed by their defense. Their libero plays well in the back row and they keep a lot of balls going, he said. We are going to have to stay aggressive on the attack and serve to keep them out of system.
Overall, Opp pointed to Chester as being the team to beat.
The field has six high-quality teams that have been in the tournament last season that could make a run, he said.
It is going to be who can put three good matches together. When you get to this point in the season, you can throw the records out.
Although the focus is on the first match, Opp likes his teams chances heading into the tournament.
Our goal is to win the first match of the day and play in the semi-final match with a potential matchup with Warner, in which we lost to in 5 earlier in the season, he said. I really think that if we play to our potential, I feel like this team can make a run for a state championship.
The winners from Thursday will play in the semifinals at 5 and 6:45 p.m. Friday.
The losers will face off in the consolation semifinals at 11 a.m., and 12:45 p.m. Friday.
The seventh-place match is slated for 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by the consolation championship at 12:45 p.m., the third-place match at 5 p.m., and the championship match at 6:45 p.m.
Leave a Reply